Every summer my kids and I work on one art project a week where they learn about an artist as well as various art techniques and concepts. Join us for our journey into art and art history! The rest of the year we spend crafting and seeing where our creativity takes us!

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

2012: Project 6--Frank Stella-Inspired Cardboard Sculpture

This was one of the last projects we tried this past summer. I came across the artist Frank Stella
on Pinterest. I had not heard of him before, but I was immediately
drawn to his geometric artwork and his bright sculptures. I thought it
would be fun to show the girls his artwork and create cardboard
sculptures. I was first inspired to try this project after seeing this project posted on The Chocolate Muffin Tree blog

Here are some examples of Stella's work that I showed the girls before we started our project:

After I showed the girls Frank Stella's artwork, I showed them Chocolate Muffin Tree's cardboard project. Then I gave them a piece of cardboard and our bin of recycled materials and told them to get to it. We received how to use a hot glue gun safely and they were off! I think they really enjoyed the process of creating these sculptures. I love all the concentration you see in the photos as they are creating!

I thought it was simply amazing how they manipulated the cardboard and worked the glue fun! I didn't help them with these AT ALL!

Top image is my 9 year old's, bottom image is my (then) 6 year old's.

After they were done creating their sculptures, I spray painted them white.

And then they were going to paint them with acrylic paints. Ella picked cool colors.

Lily picked warm colors.

I admit that this project might have been a bit too ambitious for the end of the summer. Even though there was more than a week between when they created the sculptures and when they were going to paint them, the girls just were not that interested in painting the sculptures. They did a few tubes the first day. Then I tried to get them to keep going, but they just didn't feel like it. So unfortunately, we don't have a finished project. I still have them up in the closet. Maybe they will finish them someday. Maybe next summer. ;-) They absolutely LOVED the construction part of this though. I will have to remember that and see what I can come up with in the future that can feed off that.

2 comments:

That is a great idea! Maybe I'll let the girls each pick which color we should use to spray paint them. I had visions of hanging these on our art room wall so I was a bit disappointed when they didn't feel up to finishing them. Maybe a Stella project turned Louise Nevelson project? ;-) Thanks for your comment!

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About Me

Although I worked in the museum world before I had kids, I've been a stay at home mom since 2003. I have a background in art history with a couple studio classes thrown in. I've always loved to be creative. In addition to raising my three kids, I have a part-time photography business, an arts and crafts blog and two direct sales businesses.